Rockfish Valley Trail 3/20/14

All photos are © Marshall Faintich


The first day of spring ushered in warmer temperatures and bright, sunny skies; at least until the end of the weekend when another cold front makes its way to the east coast. I logged 22 species on the Rockfish Valley Trail this morning, but it took a lot of work. Birds have been sparse on this trail as of late, possibly because of significant habitat changes adjacent to the trail, and some minor changes internal to the trail.


Tree Swallow


Carolina Wren


Field Sparrow bathing in the bog area


Hermit Thrush


Song Sparrow


Yellow-rumped Warbler

This morning's highlights included two species. As I was walking on the path through the bog area, an American Woodcock flew up in front of me and landed quickly in the center of the bog before I could get a photo of it. I exited the bog area and walked around to a point where I might have been able to re-locate and photograph it, but some guy with three unleashed dogs came around the bog area, and the owner was yelling at one of the dogs to get out of the bog area while another one of the dogs was barking and ran towards me - so much for a photo. When I got around to the other side of the bog area, there were two Rusty Blackbirds in one of the trees at the edge of the bog area.


Rusty Blackbird


Rusty Blackbird


Rusty Blackbird


Rusty Blackbird

Not a bad start for the first day of spring.

Today's RV Trail List:

American Woodcock
Rock Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird



E-mail comments on this report


Return to blog page home